Keeping the Faith

God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation

$38.00 US
Random House Group | Random House
12 per carton
On sale Aug 13, 2024 | 978-0-593-22992-7
Sales rights: US, Canada, Open Mkt
“Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account of the Scopes trial sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the struggles of the present.”—Jon Meacham
 
In this magnificent book, award-winning author of The Impeachers brings to life the dramatic story of the 1925 Scopes trial, which captivated the nation and exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today—divisions over the meaning of freedom, religion, education, censorship, and civil liberties in a democracy.

“Propulsive . . . a terrific story about a pivotal moment in our history.”—Ken Burns

“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school.

Brenda Wineapple explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. Darrow, a brilliant and controversial lawyer, said in his electrifying defense of Scopes that people should be free to think, worship, and learn. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president, argued for the prosecution that evolution undermined the fundamental, literal truth of the Bible and created a society without morals, meaning, and hope.

In Keeping the Faith, Wineapple takes us into the early years of the twentieth century—years of racism, intolerance, and world war—to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history. At its heart, the Scopes trial dramatized conflicts over many of the fundamental values that define America, and that continue to divide Americans today.
“A brilliant account of the Scopes trial, as fair-minded as it is well written, as compelling as it is richly detailed—and as relevant to today’s America as it is faithful to the America of a century ago.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament

“It has everything—the clash of science and faith, dueling celebrity lawyers, intense media interest. Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the unfolding struggles of the urgent present.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of And There Was Light

“In Brenda Wineapple’s hands, a century-old event opens a window on our country today, when the impulse to label certain ideas as too dangerous to be taught is as powerful now as it was when Tennessee made it a crime to teach about evolution.”—Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize–winning legal journalist

“Brenda Wineapple brings to compelling life the extravaganza that was the Scopes trial, as well as Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, its jousting antagonists. She recounts a battle about science, religion, truth, and freedom of thought that seems much closer than a century ago.”—Drew Gilpin Faust, New York Times bestselling author of Necessary Trouble

“In this propulsive account of the 1925 Scopes trial, Wineapple exposes fault lines in America that continue to haunt us today. Darrow and Bryan emerge as complicated and fascinating characters who embody different versions of American democracy.”—Ken Burns

“‘Democracy was on trial,’ Wineapple writes—then as now. A master of historical narrative, she has given us a bracing and illuminating tale for our own troubled times.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Road to Surrender

“Much of what we think we know about the famous Scopes trial, we don’t. Our misconceptions need correction—and there is no better corrector than Brenda Wineapple.”—Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg

About

“Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account of the Scopes trial sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the struggles of the present.”—Jon Meacham
 
In this magnificent book, award-winning author of The Impeachers brings to life the dramatic story of the 1925 Scopes trial, which captivated the nation and exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today—divisions over the meaning of freedom, religion, education, censorship, and civil liberties in a democracy.

“Propulsive . . . a terrific story about a pivotal moment in our history.”—Ken Burns

“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school.

Brenda Wineapple explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. Darrow, a brilliant and controversial lawyer, said in his electrifying defense of Scopes that people should be free to think, worship, and learn. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president, argued for the prosecution that evolution undermined the fundamental, literal truth of the Bible and created a society without morals, meaning, and hope.

In Keeping the Faith, Wineapple takes us into the early years of the twentieth century—years of racism, intolerance, and world war—to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history. At its heart, the Scopes trial dramatized conflicts over many of the fundamental values that define America, and that continue to divide Americans today.

Praise

“A brilliant account of the Scopes trial, as fair-minded as it is well written, as compelling as it is richly detailed—and as relevant to today’s America as it is faithful to the America of a century ago.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament

“It has everything—the clash of science and faith, dueling celebrity lawyers, intense media interest. Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the unfolding struggles of the urgent present.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of And There Was Light

“In Brenda Wineapple’s hands, a century-old event opens a window on our country today, when the impulse to label certain ideas as too dangerous to be taught is as powerful now as it was when Tennessee made it a crime to teach about evolution.”—Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize–winning legal journalist

“Brenda Wineapple brings to compelling life the extravaganza that was the Scopes trial, as well as Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, its jousting antagonists. She recounts a battle about science, religion, truth, and freedom of thought that seems much closer than a century ago.”—Drew Gilpin Faust, New York Times bestselling author of Necessary Trouble

“In this propulsive account of the 1925 Scopes trial, Wineapple exposes fault lines in America that continue to haunt us today. Darrow and Bryan emerge as complicated and fascinating characters who embody different versions of American democracy.”—Ken Burns

“‘Democracy was on trial,’ Wineapple writes—then as now. A master of historical narrative, she has given us a bracing and illuminating tale for our own troubled times.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Road to Surrender

“Much of what we think we know about the famous Scopes trial, we don’t. Our misconceptions need correction—and there is no better corrector than Brenda Wineapple.”—Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg